For My Father
by JediMaster-Jen
Summary: Ben does something nice for Luke on Father's Day.


**Title:** For My Father

**Summary:** Ben gives Luke a touching gift on Father's Day.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Star Wars, unfortunately. I'm not making any money off of this, unfortunately. George Lucas, and now Disney own it and make money from it.

/

Ben stepped into the brilliant sunlight and squinted against its harsh rays. The heat was almost unbearable and if not for his Jedi skills, he feared he might bake to death in it. Shaking his head, he walked towards the tech dome and the lift that led down to the garage.

Once he stepped into the garage, he could hear his father tinkering around with a few tools.

"Need some help?" he asked when he got closer.

Luke looked up from his work and smiled at his now twenty-year-old son. The bright Tatooine suns had lightened his red hair a bit and he now had a light brown tan to his skin.

"I'm almost finished, but thanks for the offer," Luke finally replied.

Ben sat down at the workbench and fiddled with an old, broken hydrospanner. "You kept this old thing."

Luke looked up and smiled when he saw the tool. "Yeah. It brings back a good memory."

Ben laughed softly. "Not for me."

"Well, you were seven," Luke said. "That's a bit young to try using a hydrospanner. We told you not to try hanging that holo on your wall by yourself."

"It was anything but funny when I lost my grip and it landed on my head," he commented. "You were trying so hard not to laugh at the expression on my face and Mom…Mom was trying not to laugh at both of us."

"Yeah," Luke managed, his chest tightening. "Your mother had a lot of good laughs at my expense over the years."

Ben placed the hydrospanner back on the bench and stood. "Listen, when you're done out here, I made supper."

Luke's eyes widened. "You cooked?"

Ben nodded. "Yeah, it's Father's Day. At least, it's Father's Day on Coruscant. I don't know that it's celebrated here on Tatooine, but…anyway, I cooked. It's ready when you are."

"Go on in, I'll just be another minute or two."

"Okay," he agreed. "I'll set the table."

He left, feeling Luke's eyes follow his every move. He could sense his father's curiosity as well. He allowed himself a small smile as he took the lift back up from the garage.

/

Ben felt his father approaching and he quickly placed his Father's Day gift on the table where Luke could see it when he entered the homestead. Then he stood and waited.

The moment Luke stepped into the kitchen, his breath caught in his throat and his eyes watered. There, sitting on the table as the centerpiece was a framed holo of Mara. She was seated in a chair in their old apartment on Coruscant and was smiling brightly at the holocamera. The love in her eyes seemed jump right off the holo.

"Where did you find that holograph?" Luke finally asked, his heart still thundering in his chest.

Ben cleared his throat. "I was looking through some of the old albums and I found it. She…she looks so happy in that holo that I…there were others but I knew you took this one. That's why she was smiling like that; like everything in her world made sense to her in that moment."

Luke reached out and first he touched the intricate carvings on the wood frame. "Did you carve these designs?"

Ben swallowed through his own emotions. "Yeah, with that old energy cutter that Uncle Han gave you."

Luke nodded. "It's beautiful work. I didn't know you were so good at wood-carving."

Ben shrugged. "Neither did I. It turned out better than I expected."

Luke didn't answer. He was staring at the holo of his wife. Her smile had lit every dark corner of his life when she'd come into it, and her death had brought utter darkness. Ben was his only saving grace. He filled the void as best as a son could.

Their eyes met when he finally looked up.

"It's been so long since…you don't have any holos of her here at all and most of her things are packed away," Ben began. "I just…I wanted to give her back to you, somehow. I thought maybe a holo would be a good idea, and the idea of using it as a centerpiece on the table was Jaina's suggestion."

The tears that had welled up in his eyes finally fell. "Thank you, son."

Ben embraced his father. "I just wanted to do something nice for my father."

They held the embrace for several long moments before breaking apart and sitting down to eat; Mara with them in her own way.


End file.
